Statesboro native, Elliott Marsh, works as a Financial Advisor by day.
However, he equally invests substantial time and energy into his ongoing work with the UGA CARE Center, in addition to serving on the board for the Rockin’ Out Alzheimer’s Disease (ROAD) Foundation. ROAD helps fundraise money for initiatives within the area to support dementia caregivers and patients.
Elliott is pioneering a crusade to help establish more dementia caregiver support services within the Bulloch County area. His advocacy extends from his own personal tie to it.
Marsh’s father, Chris Marsh, passed away from Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Dementia Disease in August 2020.
Chris had been showing early signs of dementia approximately 8 years prior to his death, but was not met with an official diagnosis until 4 years before his passing.
Also, unexpectedly and untimely, Elliott’s mom’s Annette Marsh experienced a resurgence of her breast cancer in 2019. This resurgence came at a time when Annette was the primary caregiver for her husband, Chris, who was at the height of his dementia journey.
Annette beat both bouts of breast cancer after her initial diagnosis in 2004. However, she unfortunately lost a battle with pancreatic cancer and passed away in May 2020 after its return.
The 3-month window of Elliott’s parents passing back-to-back was a deeply painful experience for Elliott to navigate. He says he couldn't have done it without the support the Ogeechee Area Hospice gave to his parents and to him during this time. (He is also a board member for Ogeechee Area Hospice). However, he eventually found the strength to press on and honor the lives of his parents through being an active advocate for dementia awareness and caregiver support.
Initially, Elliott’s support of dementia awareness was primarily found in his heavy involvement with the Alzheimer’s Association and through his avid support of the ROAD Foundation.
However, the true catalyst for Elliott’s dementia support crusade came through a serendipitous meeting of the UGA Alumni Board.
In the days leading up to the final conversations with his mother, he got the call from a friend and board member notifying him that he had been elected to join the UGA Alumni Association Board.
It was during the January 2021 meeting when the UGA College of Public Heath Dean, Marsha Davis, gave a presentation on the CARE Center and how it was going to positively impact the lives of numerous dementia patients and caregivers throughout Georgia.
That meeting struck an internal chord with Elliott, as it was exactly the type of patient/caregiver support system that he had wished his parents had found during their dementia journey.
Annette Marsh was the primary caretaker of Chris up until her unexpected passing. And during Chris’s dementia journey, Elliott noted how his mother struggled to find a diagnosis, dementia care assistance at home, and general information on dementia care. In retrospect, a program like CARE would have been a great resource of support for his mother during his dad's dementia journey.
Immediately following that meeting, Elliott reached out to Dean Davis to learn more about CARE at UGA. That conversation led Elliott and wife Christy Marsh to start their CARE Center Student Support Fund through an endowment process.
The fund supports UGA students who are pursuing a degree in public health and want to help Georgia's communities. The endowment fund offers economic and financial support for these students, which ultimately helps them to accomplish their research and CARE Center initiatives.
Since then, Elliott has been able to work with the CARE Center regularly to begin bringing more support services and resource centers to the Bulloch County area.
On the ongoing success of his journey and his collaborative efforts to increase dementia support resources locally, Marsh says, “Once my family got into this dementia journey -- but especially after my father passed -- I wanted to make sure that I was available to tell my story. I wanted to help others who might have been going through similar circumstances to myself.”
He continued, “I encourage any dementia caregivers who may need support to reach out for that support. It is important that caregivers receive support while caring for their dementia patients or loved ones. Dementia is an scary disease that has the potential to wear down caregivers over time. So having the available resources for dementia support remains important for our community moving forward.”
One of the resources that CARE has unfolding shortly is the UGA CARE Center’s partnership with the ROAD Foundation. (Read more HERE). Elliott hopes that you will support the ROAD Foundation's annual concert this August 5th. Learn more and purchase tickets, HERE.
Additionally, the UGA CARE Center’s partnership extends over to the East Georgia Regional Medical Center, who now has a connection with CARE to provide resources for patients and families of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
“This partnership between the UGA CARE Center and East Georgia Regional Medical Center will be fantastic for our community," Marsh said. "It will create a much easier implementation of dementia support resources for our community. Kathryn Chiang and her team have undergone many collaborative conversations with the hospital and other facilities in the area. Each of those conversations have aided her team in narrowing down which support services would be beneficial to having in Bulloch County. Therefore, with the hospital being one of the primary stakeholders in this process, it will ensure that CARE’s future support services remain widespread and accessible.”
Elliott has several thanks to give regarding the success of his ongoing mission and efforts.
“I would like to thank UGA and the College of Public Health. I would especially like to thank the Dean of the College of Public Health, Marsha Davis. I would like to thank Dr. Lisa Renzi-Hammond, Dr. Jenay Beer, and Kathryn Chiang for the work they have done with CARE in starting this initiative. I would like to thank the ROAD Foundation for their financial support and partnership with CARE to help fund this CARE initiative for Bulloch County. I would like to thank East Georgia Regional Medical Center for their help in assisting with the future implementation of this CARE initiative. I would finally like to thank the Bulloch County community for their care shown to our family throughout this entire journey.”
Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Local resources and links
For more information on the UGA CARE Center, visit https://publichealth.uga.edu/research/research-institutes/institute-of-gerontology/care-center/ or email [email protected]
For more information on the ROAD Foundation, visit https://rockinoutalzheimers.org/ or email [email protected].
The ROAD CARING CLOSET provides personal items for dementia patients, free of charge to the caregiver. For more information, visit https://rockinoutalzheimers.org/caring-closet.
The Bulloch County Dementia Caregiver Support Group is hosted by the Lodge at Bethany in Statesboro. For more information, contact Haley McNure at (912) 225-7204 or email [email protected].
For more information about the Chris and Annette Marsh CARE Center Student Support Fund, CLICK HERE.
